Splinterlands: The Market & Economic Side Of 45%
So splinterlands laid off 45% of its staff, and the first thing that came to my mind was how this looked similar to the myriads of retrenchments that are currently happening in the cooperate world. Of course, this isn't the same thing. But when it comes to money, irrespective of where it's built or generated from, Profit and loss are occurrences that are always synonymous in a particular context.
I know that some people might already begin to think that Splinterlands might have money in FTX, well it's normal for them to think so and this is because the trust issue in the crypto world out there is being tanked by the likes of DO KWON and SBF. But, it's different in hive and everything is built here.
Nevertheless
There's this extra layer of safety that comes with building on hive and this probably makes aggy and the team quite better. Generally, we can see the oblivion that's happening in the world of finance these days and it's a sad thing to see a huge company as splinterlands following the retrenchments route, but if we begin to see in-house analyses, we might just begin to understand that running a #p2e game in a bear market might be very expensive.
But there again, it makes you wonder, "shouldn't they have seen it coming and planned for it?* But then again, running a million dollars in cost per month is not child's play, whether it's the bull or the bear market. However, I don't exactly know the number of staff that makes up the 100%, and laying off 45% might seem epic, but I'm hearing it's close to 145.
The Maths Can Be Overwhelming
Maybe laying off 45% and keeping 100 of them might probably not seem huge
....but since we're dealing with percentages, I think close to 60 people must have been laid off. Now I don't know if these people's duties were dispensable or something that they could have easily transferred to other team members who could also handle these duties, but I'm certain there must have been someone tasked with the decision of choosing who would go and who needs to stay based on what they offered.
I think this is a tough thing to do and I don't really know if 145 staff are too much, because I cannot originally understand the essence of their functionalities. However, if this was just downsizing because some roles were surplus to requirement then Splinterlands Inc will eventually surge ahead after this. Although we cannot completely say they (splinterland Inc) have been spotless in their decision-making.
Undeniably.....
I particularly feel that the development phase of the game at the grassroots has stalled, the building at the lower level has reduced and it's more stationary with the level of sales we're completely seeing. Since I think riftwatchers came in too early when the Chaos legion packs haven't even sold out. I think I realize that some of these revenues from the sales are being channeled into cost. Although having lesser cost to run might mean not needing too many funds thereby channeling energy and resources into development and building rather sales upon sales.
But this is highly hypothetical.
For one I think 80 or 90% of the CL packs should be burned, then the next card edition should be halted till maybe 2024, (I'm indifferent towards riftwatchers, but I still feel it's expensive) then I think there should be more focus on adoption, graduating the ordinary user to higher levels, reducing cost of participation while offering bigger incentives should new users see the game as a long-term investment.
Running The Cost
This might currently not seem profitable for splinterland INC, but it's going to be in the long run. I'm trying to see beyond the gloom of this 45% layoff and the positive things they could achieve from this. It's even better we didn't see the DAO being used to further fund payments because this might grossly affect SPS. It's a bump in the road, I love splinterlands (even if my investment is tiny) I believe everyone does too, it's hard not to.
At this stage, I believe aggy and the team need to look to the future and begin to build something formidable again. No one likes the effect of bear markets, but generally, it's beyond the market and into stranger things. What I can see is that Splinterlands has done well considering. They've got dedicated die-hard users and it's only the beginning.
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This a hard decision both for the Splinterlands management and the ones that after laid off. Though, I am not surprised that it has come to this - given the market has been down for soo long. It is a hard decision but far better than not doing it and then come to a point where the company cannot operate anymore.
!1UP
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Yeah, I think they had to take this necessary decision for the future of the game, just that 45% screams huge, but after I got the analysis before this post, I think I even understand better. We're deep into the bear and survival is really paramount.
I hope that they would hire those valuable persons again in the future when the market goes up. 😊
But yeah, 45% is a big percentage.
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They did say in the announcement that they will not have promotions anymore in the near future and that land is now the highest priority.
I think the launch of land will be amazing and it will bring in lots of players both new and old.
It looks like they let go of people in marketing and such. For instance bulldog1205 was let go and he was mostly engaging with the community and producing content like streaming the game.
Yeah, I guess bulldog's was the most surprising of all. I don't know how they came about the list of who needed to go or remain, but I like to think they're professionals and they've got their reasons.
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I think they cut mostly the non-essential jobs.
During the bear-market they won’t grow fast, so I’m order to keep the current player base they need to deliver new content.
Then in the next bull market they will be ready to go make the game in full force again with a better product and strong community
Laying off people is never an easy decision, some people get unemployed so that others can remain employed. Running a business is not easy not to talk of running a game during this bear market, splinterlands must have a good reason for the lay off. I do hope the those laid off get other opportunities on time.
Splinterlands game sound interesting I haven't played it yet.
It's the sad thing out there. Sometimes the resources are never there to completely keep everyone paid, this sometimes makes people surplus to requirement.
As for splinterlands it was more of the bear market and the resources not being enough to pay them.
It's exciting, challenging and awesome, but expensive and sometimes fraustrating.
How's work now?
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I might be wrong but I think the numbers of employees were more than enough, again I don't know what their duties are behind the scenes and perhaps Splinterlands could have managed with fewer numbers.
It is sad for those affected by the layoff but it is the right thing to do to keep the company afloat, this reminds me of when Covid struck, we were laid off immediately, it felt bad, with an uncertain future financially but it was a move in the interest of the company not to keep us at home locked up due to lockdown and continue to dish out salaries with no productivity.
The game needs new players and I strongly wish attention is given to the lower league to encourage entry.
The crypto bear, hopefully it doesn't get worse than this.
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Yeah, I think eventually they'll work around with the 55% left because I know most of those recruitment happened during the splinterlands' bloom mid last year I guess. Nevertheless, like we've both pointed out, we need developments and the game has got to move forward, I think it's time to focus on adoption and retention.
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You know, I think this is a really awesome thing for the company moving forward - also gives a lot more value to players. I understand they have some players they pay in 1000s of DEC per week - others were getting $40,000 to moderate the discord forums. Cutting some of that back puts the game in a far stronger position.
You're right, I mean, maybe because of the bull market it was difficult to see that some roles were surplus to requirement. I think it's a good thing like you've said, 145, seems like a huge figure anyways. I think going forward they will recruit with caution.
My ECR is down 8% again, I don't know why it drains too fast, but I took the time to write then instead of playing.
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8% eh? So it goes down slower to 50%, once you go under 50% I think it goes down at 5% per battle - it was a mechanism to destroy bots. I've never gotten to the point of losing 5% per battle, but remember reading it!
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I think it was bound to happen because we are in a bear market. The last thing I want to happen is to see Splinterlands get worst due to the operating costs and the need to raise funds. By cutting off some staff, they can plan to survive until the bear market is over. I think the core staff there to develop features will still be there so I hope they will be more focused on specific features being released.
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I think all in all, it's not totally bad as splinterland Inc can begin to shuffle their finances. I hope we don't see this crazy market for too long..
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Just the harsh reality of running a business.
I wish everyone that lost their jobs all the best, but now Splinterlands as a company can move forward more streamlined.
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Yeah you're right, it's the harsh reality of running a business, sometimes layoffs can happen, it's inevitable.
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I trust the team to make the hard decisions on what is best for #splinterlands
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They just did on this issue.
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This is what makes the hive Blockchain unique from other smart contract, issues of laid off staff can never arise because everything is done visibly to the sight of everyone.
It obvious trully with the number of users on splinterland, the team might not want an issue that will distabilize the system based on trust.
At the end, it was probably for the best
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Also wondering what kind of tasks these 45% had indeed. I heard some names of good promoters in the community of names of people which I follow and like a lot so that kind of sucks!
But I get it, you need the development to continue to keep the game fresh, that is prio 1 before it all collapse..Nevertheless...we all want the same thing, and people getting laid off just sucks